Thompson goes after Hovde in new U.S. Senate race ad

Jul. 23, 2012

U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde

Written by

Scott Bauer

Associated Press

MADISON — Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson has unleashed his first attack ad of the U.S. Senate race campaign, accusing hedge fund manager Eric Hovde of gaming the system and betting against American taxpayers.

Hovde, who polls show is gaining on Thompson with the primary three weeks away, posted a response on his campaign website Monday calling Thompson’s television ad “a disappointing and disingenuous display of politics as usual.”

Thompson’s latest spot going after Hovde, released on Saturday, came a day after Thompson sent both Hovde and third candidate Mark Neumann a letter complaining about their ads attacking him.

The latest back and forth between the candidates shows a further intensification of the race to fill Wisconsin’s open Senate seat vacated by the retirement of Democrat Herb Kohl. Besides Thompson, Hovde and Neumann, state Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald is also running as a Republican. U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin is the only Democrat in the race.

Hovde opponents have been trying to knock down his campaign as it appears to be gaining momentum. The national anti-tax group Club for Growth launched a television ad attacking him and Thompson two weeks ago. Neumann is also running his own spot attacking Hovde’s conservative credentials because he donated $500 to Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle in 2006.

Hovde responded with his own spot last week, accusing Thompson and Neumann of slinging mud in an attempt to distract attention from their own poor records.

In Thompson’s latest, his first attack ad of the campaign, he accuses Hovde of running a hedge fund that “used ‘Uncle Sam’ to buy banks” and “gamed the system and bet against American companies and homeowners.”

The ad quotes from a January 2009 Hovde Industry Update article titled “Let Uncle Sam Pay For Your Acquisition.” Hovde said in his response that the newsletter was written by a Hovde Financial employee after he no longer had any involvement with the company. Hovde called the newsletter’s headline “stupid.”

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Hovde also dismissed the ad’s claim that he bet against American companies and homeowners, calling it “a deceitful attack that comes straight from the Democrat’s class-warfare playbook.” Hovde said his funds made investment decisions “against sub-prime mortgage companies and Wall Street investment firms that were selling toxic mortgage products to American homeowners and engaging in financial fraud.”

Thompson’s attack ad comes after he wrote a letter Friday to Neumann and Hovde complaining about ads attacking him.

“Every single dollar in advertising my campaign has spent to date has been solely about my record and my vision for the country,” Thompson said. “Only Jeff Fitzgerald and I could say that.”

Now, only Fitzgerald can say that. He hasn’t run a single television ad so far.

Hovde is showing movement in the polls, going from 18 points down to Thompson in a June poll by Marquette University Law School to just 12 down in the latest one released July 11.

That poll of likely primary voters showed Thompson leading the field with 35 percent, followed by Hovde at 23 percent, Neumann and 10 percent and Fitzgerald at 6 percent. Another 25 percent were undecided.

Thompson also announced Monday that outspoken conservative rocker Ted Nugent would be hosting a rally for him Thursday in Sturtevant.

Nugent got in trouble in April when he made provocative comments about President Barack Obama during a speech at the National Rifle Association. Nugent met with Secret Service representatives after referring to Obama’s “evil, America-hating administration” and urging voters to “chop their heads off in November.”

“I am proud to have Ted Nugent, a relentless conservative icon, as part of my U.S. Senate campaign team,” Thompson said in a statement. Thompson said his campaign will build upon Nugent’s enthusiasm heading into the primary.